Onslaught was born from the minds of Professor X and Magneto, and is a nigh-omnipotent villain, and can absorb powers from various other characters. Onslaught is mostly remembered for his part in the deaths of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Hulk and Doctor Doom that led to the Heroes Reborn reboot.

Origin

Onslaught

Onslaught was a sentient psionic entity created from the consciousness of two mutants: Professor Charles Xavier, the telepathic founder of the X-Men, and the mutant known as Magneto, Master of Magnetism. During a battle between the X-Men and Magneto's Acolytes, Magneto extracted the Adamantium from the skeleton of Wolverine. Upon seeing this, a very angry Xavier used his telepathic powers to shut down Magneto's mind, rendering him catatonic. During the psionic contact, Magneto's anger, grief and lust for vengeance entered Xavier's consciousness; that and with every long-suppressed negative feeling Xavier had endured during the last 30 years. This aggregation resulted in the being known as Onslaught, a being made of psionic energy combining Magneto’s and Xavier’s psyches.

Creation

Onslaught made his first full appearance in X-Men vol.2 issue 53.

Major Story Arcs

Evil Born

Onslaught's Original Appearance

Onslaught had an appearance similar to Magneto but was larger. This similarity was noticed by Wolverine when Onslaught claimed to be Charles Xavier. Wolverine remarked that he looked more like Magneto, with the helmet, build, and color scheme. These statements made Onslaught very angry, and he then released a huge amount of energy, destroying the room they were all in. He then proceeded to kidnap Jean Grey and took her to the astral plane. He tried to convince her to join him and his cause but without revealing that he was part of Xavier’s subconscious. Onslaught then tries to show Jean Xavier’s repressed frustration cause by his love for Jean. As a result he attacks Jean and burns his name psionically on Jean’s forehead, which only Jean can see. Onslaught then throws Jean out of the astral plane. Jean and the X-Men later meet up with Juggernaut who asked Jean to search through his mind telepathically to find out who Onslaught was. She took him down into a telepathic proof room where they could sit and talk. Jean placed her hands on Juggernaut's head, and proceeded to look for information, which led to her discovering that Onslaught knew where they were. However, Juggernaut ran, and once in the hallway, found himself in a maze of stairs, and found only a door in which to escape. He ran through the door, only to find a massive Onslaught on the other side. Onslaught tore the Gem ofCyttorak from Juggernaut's impenetrable body, and he would soon be kidnapped by Onslaught. Later, back in Xavier's body, Onslaught called the X-Men into his study. He claimed that he wanted to destroy the human race to leave the mutants supreme. Jean, distressed at what Xavier was saying walked around the room, and saw the Gem of Cyttorak on the table, and inside was Juggernaut. Onslaught then proceeded in battling the X-Men and destroyed most of the school. When Bishop came from the future to warn the X-Men of a traitor within, this proved that Gambit was not the traitor that Bishop claimed. It was actually part of Xavier that was the traitor. Onslaught continued his plans to try and destroy all humanity. Meanwhile, Wolverine and Elektra were able to figure out that Onslaught was in fact Xavier and Magneto.

Onslaught and Franklin Richards

Onslaught intended to destroy all mutants and humans alike by absorbing the powers of Franklin Richards and Nate Grey to increase his own psionic powers. Onslaught battles the Avengers , Fantastic Four , The Hulk , the X-Men and Doctor Doom. During the battle the Hulk pleads with Jean to shut off the "Banner Persona" which she does and the Hulk destroys Onslaught`s psychic armor with a powerful punch, so powerful that the Hulk and Bruce Banner separate. Onslaught, now a being of pure and raw psionic energy is pleased that everything has gone the way he planned but before Onslaught can do more harm, the non-mutant heroes (except Scarlet Witch) dive into Onslaught`s energy form which causes him to weaken. All except Franklin Richards, Nate Grey, Quicksilver, the Banner-less Hulk, the Magneto clone known as Joseph and the X-Men are presumed dead. In reality Franklin created a pocket dimension where he sent the heroes.

Onslaught Reborn

Onslaught returns

On the ten-year anniversary of the Onslaught event in 2006, Marvel released this five-issue mini-series written by Jeph Loeb with art by Rob Liefeld.

After using her powers to de-power Earth's mutants, Scarlet Witch unwittingly caused the powers of Charles Xavier and Magneto to collide reforming Onslaught who's consciousness still lingered. Onslaught swore revenge on Franklin Richards, and all the heroes that he despised. He appeared in his large, more monstrous form. He first took control of both the Human Torch, and Mr. Fantastic and attempted to kill Franklin. He is soon interrupted by Invisible Woman and Thing, who manage to save Franklin. Franklin runs to Counter-Earth, but is followed by Onslaught.

Upon his arrival in Counter-Earth, Onslaught became larger, and gained his Magneto-like mask. He soon faced-off against the Avengers, and was presumed defeated when he fell into the ocean. The Avengers then began questioning the credibility of Franklin as he claimed to be the son of both Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman who on Counter-Earth are not married and do not have any children. Shortly after Onslaught possesses the Hulk and uses him to attack Thor to see which hero was more powerful. Onslaught switched between the two heroes, and ended up possessing Thor, striking Hulk with lightning. As the Onslaught possessed Thor was about to strike Hulk again, he dropped Mjolnir, no longer being worthy. Thus Onslaught switched back to Hulk, and punched Thor high into the atmosphere. As he then went to pick up the hammer, the Avengers arrived and a fight ensued. Captain America then ordered Human Torch and Iron Man to rescue Thor, telling them they had about sixty seconds before Thor reverted to his alter-ego. They managed to save him in the allotted time, and Johnny took Thor back to the Baxter Building, where Mister Fantastic had discovered that Franklin really was his son. Cap orders Hawkeye to go and search for Onslaught, and confronts him that he knows that underneath Hawkeye's costume, is Wolverine. They continue the battle the possessed Hulk, where Cap is thrown into a building. Iron Man, still in the atmosphere, charges down at Hulk at full speed, hoping that Bruce would one day forgive him for this. He punches Hulk, knocking him unconscious. He and Cap then assess their next move, when Onslaught possesses Iron Man, and attacks Cap. Back at the Avengers Mansion, Rikki Barnes is baby sitting Franklin, and they are about to eat breakfast, when Loki, Executioner, Scarlet Witch, Enchantress, and Ultron V make them an offer to help defeat Onslaught. On a balcony, an invisible Ant-Man and Invisible Woman reveal themselves and Sue refuses to let the villains cause Franklin any harm.

After a brief fight the villains then decide to work side-by-side to defeat the threat of Onslaught, but in the end it was Rikki "Bucky" Barnes who defeated him by using a Fantasticar to send them both through the Negative Zone barrier in Richard's lab, trapping them there. Franklin then returns home while Bucky found herself suddenly on Earth 616, and Onslaught seen floating outside the Area 42 prison in the Negative Zone.

AXIS

Red Onslaught

Following the death of Charles Xavier during the AVX crisis, the Red Skull exhumes his corpse and grafts part of his brain onto his own, giving him Xavier's psychic abilities. A vision of a possible future is later shown, where the Red Skull, now possessing Onslaughts appearance, pursues the surviving members of the Avengers Unity Squad into the sewers beneath New York.

Onslaught finally makes a true return during the events of AXIS, where Magneto kills the Red Skull in anger. This unleashes Onslaught, who had apparently been dormant within Xavier's mind, causing a merger of the two villains, now dubbed Red Onslaught. He is defeated by the combined might of Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom, though the resulting Inversion wave causes the heroes and villains present at the battle to switch moral alignments.

Characteristics

Height: 34"11 (variable)

Weight: 2,987 lbs (variable)

Eyes: Red

Hair: none

Powers

Onslaught possessed the combined mutant abilities of Professor X and Magneto. His powers included the ability to induce illusions, temporary mental or physical paralysis, loss of specific memories, or total amnesia. He could also project mind-numbing mental bolts, and sense the presence of mutants within a small radius. Also, Onslaught was able to shape and manipulate magnetic fields, both natural and artificial. He can also project all kinds of electromagnetic radiations. His tremendous strength allows him to lift in excess of 100 tons. His durability is equally impressive. Onslaught possessed nigh-omnipotent reality warping powers on a potentially infinite level, and perhaps even up to cosmic level. Other abilities included telekinesis and astral projection.

Alternate Realities

Earth 1610 (the Ultimate Universe)

Professor X returns from training in the future and is dressed very similarly to Onslaught.

Other Media

Video Games

Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of the Super Heroes

Onslaught appears as the final boss, voiced by Maurice Dean Wit.

Marvel Super Hero Squad Online

Onslaught appears as a voiced by Travis Willingham.

Marvel Heroes

Red Onslaught appears as a Raid boss in the game.

Merchandise

Hasbro's Onslaught

Toy Biz released an Onslaught figure for their X-Men Onslaught wave.

Onslaught was featured in the HeroClix figure game.

Toy Biz released an Onslaught Build-a-Figure wave for the Marvel Legends line. The figure was based on his more monstrous final form.

Hasbro released a Red Onslaught Build-a-Figure wave for the Marvel Legends line. An alternate classic Onslaught head was included with a Kitty Pryde figure in a later Marvel Legends X-Men wave.